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Poster:	larus	Date:	September 06, 2012 04:20:10am
Forum:	feature_films	Subject:	Re: The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (1947)

The meanings of abbreviations and symbols are listed on page ix of the 1974 Catalog of Copyright Entries:

(PCB) proprietor of copyright in a work copyrighted by a corporate body otherwise than as assignee or licensee of the individual author

(PCW) proprietor of copyright in a composite work

(PPW) proprietor of copyright in a posthumous work

(PWH) proprietor of copyright of a work made for hire


Here are definitions from the Copyright Compendium II
1310.03:
Generally, a composite work is an original publication relating to a variety of subjects to which a number of
different authors have contributed distinguishable and separable selections.

1317.04(a) Definition. Generally, a composite work is an original publication relating to a variety of subjects to which a number of different authors have contributed dis­tinguishable and separable selections. Thus, a work by a single author con­sisting of a collection of his writings is not a composite work. Similarly, a work which is the product of joint authorship and common design, or which consists of elements which have been indistinguishably merged into a single entity, cannot be regarded as composite: musical compositions, dramas, dramatico-musical works, and motion pictures.


I've seen MGM file two renewals (one as PCW and one as PWH) for a number of their films. The definition above seems incompatible with PCW status, but MGM could afford the best copyright attorneys money could buy, so they must have had their reasons.